Homewood trustees unanimously approved a contract with Ryan LLC to begin the process of establishing a new tax increment finance (TIF) district on the west side of Halsted Street, south of 175th Street, including the former Walmart store property.
There were no questions or comments about the contract from trustees or members of the public at the meeting.
Ryan first will assess whether the area qualifies to be designated a TIF district. If it does, the firm will create a redevelopment plan. The contract is for $23,500 plus a possible $3,525 in contingency costs.
Walmart closed its Homewood store in March 2023, and village officials said at the time they would immediately begin searching for a new tenant, but so far no prospective tenants have come forward.
The property is owned by Agree Central LLC and is leased to Walmart.
TIF is an economic development tool municipalities use to attract interest in vacant or underused properties. When a TIF is established for a 23-year period, the assessed valuation of the property is frozen. Taxing bodies, like the village, school districts, library districts and others, will continue to receive property tax revenue based on the value at the time the TIF is created.
Revenue from any increase in assessed value in the 23 years after the TIF is established is placed in a separate fund for use in projects that support the redevelopment of the property.
In a memo to the board, Village Economic and Community Development Director Angela Mesaros said the TIF district could be key to finding a new use for the empty Walmart building.
“It is important to note that any potential redevelopment project at or about the vacant Walmart site will require a financial investment by the village,” she said. “To effectively negotiate with the owner of a business, a potential developer for the property and even the current owners of the Walmart property, staff must know the amount of incentives (investment) that will be available.”
Walmart moved into the former Kmart store in 2016 after closing its store two miles south on Halsted Street in Glenwood. Homewood took the unusual step of sharing a portion of sales tax revenue from the store for several years with Glenwood to help ease the blow of losing a large retail store.
When Walmart was preparing to renovate the former Kmart building, the site was not in a TIF district. The only incentive the company received was a Cook County Class 8 property tax relief designation that was capped at $4.3 million in tax reduction. The company did not reach the $4.3 million in tax savings before closing the store.
